Ahmad Jamal

One of the modern masters of the jazz piano, Ahmad Jamal has been playing the piano since he was 3 (1933). However, I suspect that he plays better now than he did then. I'm no expert on jazz in general - I probably would have missed his last show here in LA recently had my friend David not convinced me to go see him. Two things struck me about the performance: 1) He was so eager to get started playing that as he walked on stage around to the piano, his hands snaked around to the keyboard to start playing even before he had gotten to the bench to sit down. 2) He was totally in control of the other members of the trio (drums and upright bass), conducting them as if they were a full orchestra - all while he kept driving away at the keyboard. Amazing. So I highly recommend catching him while he's in town.